Catchers, stand up for yourselves.

Thirteen Hall of Famers since 1903 played at least half their games at catcher:

Rk	Player	PA	From	To	Age	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	SH	SF	GDP	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	Pos	Tm
1	Carlton Fisk	9853	1969	1993	21-45	2499	8756	1276	2356	421	47	376	1330	849	105	1386	143	26	79	204	128	58	.269	.341	.457	.797	*2DH/735	BOS-CHW
2	Gary Carter	9019	1974	1992	20-38	2295	7971	1025	2092	371	31	324	1225	848	106	997	68	33	99	180	39	42	.262	.335	.439	.773	*2H9/375	MON-NYM-SFG-LAD
3	Johnny Bench	8674	1967	1983	19-35	2158	7658	1091	2048	381	24	389	1376	891	135	1278	19	11	90	201	68	43	.267	.342	.476	.817	*253H/798	CIN
4	Yogi Berra	8359	1946	1965	21-40	2120	7555	1175	2150	321	49	358	1430	704	49	414	52	9	44	146	30	26	.285	.348	.482	.830	*2H79/35	NYY-NYM
5	Gabby Hartnett	7297	1922	1941	21-40	1991	6432	867	1912	396	64	236	1179	703		697	35	127		93	28	7	.297	.370	.489	.858	*2H/3	CHC-NYG
6	Rick Ferrell	7077	1929	1947	23-41	1884	6028	687	1692	324	45	28	734	931		277	10	103		55	29	35	.281	.378	.363	.741	*2/H	SLB-BOS-TOT-WSH
7	Bill Dickey	7064	1928	1946	21-39	1789	6300	930	1969	343	72	202	1209	678		289	31	51		49	36	32	.313	.382	.486	.868	*2/H	NYY
8	Ernie Lombardi	6351	1931	1947	23-39	1853	5855	601	1792	277	27	190	990	430		262	46	18		261	8		.306	.358	.460	.818	*2H	BRO-CIN-BSN-NYG
9	Ray Schalk	6232	1912	1929	19-36	1762	5306	579	1345	199	49	11	594	638		358	59	214			177	69	.253	.340	.316	.656	*2/H	CHW-NYG
10	Mickey Cochrane	6207	1925	1937	22-34	1482	5169	1041	1652	333	64	119	832	857		217	29	151			64	45	.320	.419	.478	.897	*2/H7	PHA-DET
11	Roger Bresnahan	5355	1901	1915	22-36	1438	4463	681	1246	218	71	26	527	713		401	67	112			212	4	.279	.386	.377	.764	*28/5934761	BLA-TOT-NYG-STL-CHC
12	Roy Campanella	4815	1948	1957	26-35	1215	4205	627	1161	178	18	242	856	533	30	501	30	30	18	143	25	15	.276	.360	.500	.860	*2/H	BRO
13	Jim O'Rourke	4	1904	1904	53-53	1	4	1	1	0	0	0	0	0		0	0	0			0		.250	.250	.250	.500	/*2	NYG

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 2/28/2014.

The one with the most plate appearances was Carlton Fisk who in the 1980s legitimized the swipe tag for catchers.  What happened to that?  When and why did violent collisions become so prevalent that the Major Baseball League (MBL) finally made small changes in the rules to protect the catchers?  I do not recall violent crashes involving Yogi Berra or Elston Howard, first Yankee catchers I watched.

About the new home plate collision rules: the conventional wisdom seems to be that the base runner should always slide.  Say what?  Even those dopes who slide into first base are not dumb enough to slide head and hands first into shin guards at home.  Maybe that's where the collisions came from: better to crash than slide head first.  Now they may resort to the sliding roll block and crash into the catcher from the pop up slide.  That's the slide that was supposed to have been ended with Hal McRae barreling into Willie Randolph.

It's got to be swipe tag or nothing.  That's the safest.

  

Deacon McGuire 1887-90, Bill Salkeld 1948
via Wikimedia Commons

Protect Joe Mauer from himself: eliminate the catching position.  Tuesday, September 24, 2013

In that final game against the Mets Joe Mauer was hit in the head twice by foul balls.  Mauer sustained a concussion.
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As long as the MBL insists on retaining the position of catcher, those players need protection.  I cruised through the rules and listed some excepts below.  I'm still not sure that a team is required to take the field with some poor soul in the catcher's box.  But if there is, I don't see anything that requires the catcher to squat.  Stand up.  If that blocks the view of the plate umpire, too bad.  Actually, good.  It protects the umpire also from foul balls crashing into his head.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/downloads/y2011/Official_Baseball_Rules.pdf

1.16 A Professional League shall adopt the following rule pertaining to the use of 
helmets: 
  
(d) All catchers shall wear a catcher’s protective helmet, while fielding their position.

Rule 2.00 

13 ...
The BATTERY is the pitcher and catcher

The CATCHER is the fielder who takes his position back of the home base. 

The CATCHER’S BOX is that area within which the catcher shall stand until the pitcher delivers the ball. 

Rule 3.01(e) Comment: ... the umpire shall not deliver a new ball to the pitcher or the catcher until the batter hitting the home run has crossed the plate.

4.03 When the ball is put in play at the start of, or during a game, all fielders other than the catcher shall be on fair territory. 

(a) The catcher shall station himself directly back of the plate. He may leave his position at any time to catch a pitch or make a play except that when the batter is being given an intentional base on balls, the catcher must stand with both feet within the lines of the catcher’s box until the ball leaves the pitcher’s hand. 

Rule 7.06(b) Comment: ...

NOTE: The catcher, without the ball in his possession, has no right to block the pathway of the runner attempting to score. The base line belongs to the runner and the catcher should be there only when he is fielding a ball or when he already has the ball in his hand. 

9.04 (a) The umpire-in-chief shall stand behind the catcher.
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Tell Brian McCann about Rule 3.01(e).

Brian McCann is an asshole and Yanks should not sign him.  Monday, November 25, 2013